Night-Night

Chapter 3

Luke slowly reached one of his forelegs toward the saddlebag lying beside the unmoving body, fully intending to take it with him before leaving the clearing behind. After everything he had discovered over the last hour, he wasn’t foolish enough to walk into an unfamiliar forest with absolutely nothing on him. If there was food, supplies, or even money inside the bag, then he needed it far more than the dead horse did now. Unfortunately, the simple act of picking the bag up proved to be far more difficult than he expected.

His hoof awkwardly bumped against the side of the saddlebag, nudging it slightly across the grass.

“…Come on…”

Luke tried again, pressing the edge of his hoof against the strap in an attempt to hook it somehow, but the bag only tipped over onto its side. He frowned and tried using both forelegs this time, awkwardly attempting to pin the bag down while lifting it at the same time. The result was just as pathetic.

The saddlebag slid a few inches through the grass.

“That’s not helping…”

A small wave of frustration began building inside him. He smacked the side of the bag harder with his hoof, irritation growing with every failed attempt.

“Why is this so difficult?!”

His hoof hit the bag again with a dull thud.

Luke froze.

Slowly, very slowly, he turned his attention downward toward the hoof that rested against the grass.

Right.

He no longer had hands.

The realization hit him again with the same strange heaviness as before. He stared silently at the dark shape of his hoof for several long seconds while the wind gently brushed through the clearing, causing the tall grass around him to sway softly. It was such a simple thing—hands. Something he had relied on every single day without even thinking about it. Typing, opening doors, holding pencils, carrying groceries, drawing, making coffee… all of those little actions had once felt effortless.

Now he couldn’t even pick up a bag.

“…Wow,” he muttered quietly.

A small smile slowly tugged at the corner of his mouth despite himself, followed by a tired chuckle.

“Guess I really took those for granted…”

There was something strangely humbling about it. Back in his old life, he had complained about work, about exhaustion, about long shifts and aching muscles. Yet now, stranded in a bizarre world inside the body of what he could only assume was a horse, he suddenly found himself missing the smallest things imaginable.

Luke exhaled softly before lowering his head toward the saddlebag instead. After a moment of awkward fumbling, he managed to grab one of the straps with his teeth and lift it. The bag was surprisingly heavy, forcing his neck downward slightly from the weight.

“…What do they even have in here… rocks?”

Carefully maneuvering himself, Luke tossed the saddlebag onto his back. It slipped sideways at first, nearly falling off completely, but after several frustrating attempts involving a lot of twisting, hopping, and muttered swearing, he finally managed to secure it well enough that it wouldn’t immediately slide off when he moved.

“There… good enough…”

With the saddlebag resting unevenly against his sides, Luke slowly turned away from the wreckage and the body beside it. His eyes drifted toward the thick forest stretching out ahead of him. The trees towered overhead, their branches weaving together high above to form a shifting canopy of leaves. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in scattered beams, painting patches of gold across the forest floor.

The deeper parts of the woods looked dark.

Uncomfortably dark.

Luke swallowed slightly.

“…Well… no point standing around here forever.”

Taking a cautious breath, he began moving forward into the forest.

The further he traveled, the stranger the world around him became. At first, the plants seemed merely colorful—flowers blooming in vivid pastel shades that almost looked painted rather than natural. Bright pinks, deep blues, glowing yellows. But the longer he traveled, the more unusual things became.

Some of the plants had faces.

Not realistic ones, thankfully, but enough to make Luke stop and stare uneasily whenever he spotted them. Tiny eyes hidden among leaves. Flowers with curved smiles. Bushes whose branches seemed almost shaped like reaching claws.

“…Nope. Nope, nope, nope.”

Luke quickly gave one particularly unsettling flower patch a wide berth.

“Absolutely not touching that.”

Oddly enough, the normal-looking plants worried him more.

There was something about those brightly colored flowers that triggered every survival warning he had ever learned from books or documentaries.

“Bright colors usually mean poison…” he murmured.

Whether that rule applied here or not, he wasn’t interested in testing it personally. His stomach already felt painfully empty, but random foraging in an unknown world sounded like an excellent way to accidentally poison himself to death.

The animals weren’t much less strange. Some resembled creatures from Earth, but only vaguely. He spotted birds with tiny curled cow horns perched atop their heads, rabbits with tails that resembled fluffy feathers, and squirrel-like creatures with oddly long legs that allowed them to leap absurd distances between trees.

“…Okay, that’s definitely not normal either.”

Still, most of them were small.

Manageable.

That changed nearly twenty minutes later.

Luke immediately ducked behind a nearby tree the moment he spotted the massive creature lumbering through the underbrush ahead. It was huge—far larger than him—and moved with the kind of heavy confidence that instantly screamed predator. Its body was bulky and muscular beneath dark fur, and every movement sent smaller animals scattering out of its path.

Luke carefully peeked around the tree.

“…Yeah, no thanks.”

The creature let out a low growl at another nearby animal, causing it to flee immediately.

Luke slowly pulled his head back behind the tree trunk.

“Incredible. First day here and I’m already hiding from forest monsters.”

He stayed perfectly still, waiting patiently for the large creature to disappear deeper into the woods before finally continuing onward. If there was one thing Luke had learned from life, it was that survival often meant avoiding unnecessary risks.

Even if it made him feel cowardly sometimes.

As time passed, Luke gradually became more comfortable moving on all fours. He still stumbled occasionally, especially when terrain changed suddenly beneath him, but it was no longer happening every few seconds. His movements were smoother now. More balanced.

“…Okay,” he admitted quietly while trotting around a fallen log. “I’m actually getting better at this.”

That realization was both satisfying and deeply unsettling.

The longer he moved this way, the more natural it began to feel.

Still, another problem slowly began creeping into his mind.

Everything looked the same.

Every tree blurred together. Every patch of grass and cluster of bushes seemed nearly identical. After what felt like over an hour of wandering, Luke began worrying that he might actually be walking in circles.

“…Please don’t tell me I’m lost already.”

Just as anxiety began tightening in his chest, the sound of rushing water reached his ears.

Luke’s ears twitched instinctively toward the sound before he even realized they had moved.

“…Did I just do that?”

Shaking the thought aside, he pushed through a final row of bushes and emerged beside a massive river.

The sight immediately stopped him in place.

The river was enormous, its powerful current surging rapidly downstream with enough force to carry away entire logs. The water churned violently in some areas, crashing against rocks and creating white foam that drifted along the surface.

“…Yeah, crossing that would kill me.”

He stared at it for a moment before slowly turning his gaze downstream.

Something tugged at his memory then—something he had read years ago.

“Civilizations usually form around water…”

The thought gave him a small spark of hope.

“…Worth a shot.”

And so Luke began following the river.

Nearly half an hour later, however, he encountered something far stranger than colorful birds or creepy flowers.

At first, he thought the pile of wood ahead was just debris scattered across the forest floor.

Then it moved.

The wooden pieces suddenly lifted into the air, twisting together unnaturally until they formed the shape of a massive wolf. Branches became legs. Jagged wood formed teeth. Hollow glowing eyes locked directly onto him.

Luke stared.

“…You know what? At this point, I’m not even surprised anymore.”

Oddly enough, he wasn’t terrified.

Exhausted? Confused? Concerned? Absolutely.

But not terrified.

The moment the wooden wolf stepped toward him, Luke immediately darted beneath a nearby bush. Staying low, he quickly grabbed a small stone with his mouth before tossing it hard into the opposite direction.

The stone crashed loudly through nearby bushes.

The wooden wolf’s head snapped toward the sound.

Without hesitation, the creature charged after it.

The moment it disappeared, Luke burst from hiding and ran.

“Still got it,” he panted between breaths.

He continued following the river for what felt like another two hours. By then, the sky above had begun turning orange as evening slowly settled over the forest. Shadows stretched longer between the trees, and the once colorful woods became darker and far more intimidating.

Luke finally slowed to a stop.

“…Yeah… I’m not traveling at night.”

The idea of wandering through this forest in complete darkness sounded suicidal.

Reluctantly, he decided to camp beside the river.

As the remaining sunlight faded, Luke began preparing as best he could. First, he used his hooves to clear away dry leaves and anything else nearby that looked flammable.

“Last thing I need is accidentally burning down the forest.”

After clearing a small area, he dug through the saddlebag until he found a rope. An idea immediately came to him.

Using his mouth and a lot of awkward maneuvering, Luke tied one end loosely around one of his legs and the other around a nearby tree.

“…There. Can’t get too lost now.”

It felt ridiculous, but practical.

Gathering firewood turned out to be another challenge entirely. Every suitable stick had to be picked up with his mouth before being carried back individually. It took forever.

“This would’ve taken ten minutes with hands…”

Eventually, though, he managed to gather enough dry wood into a pile. Afterward, he searched for stones suitable for creating sparks. The forest had grown considerably darker by then, forcing him to rely heavily on moonlight and careful searching.

When he finally returned to camp, he immediately got to work.

Luke placed dried leaves beneath the wood pile before awkwardly striking two stones together over them. Sparks flew several times before finally—

A tiny ember caught.

Luke’s eyes widened immediately.

“Oh! Oh, come on…”

He carefully lowered his head and gently blew against the tiny flame.

“Don’t die… don’t die…”

The ember glowed brighter.

Then suddenly—

Fwoosh.

The leaves ignited.

“Yes!”

Relieved, Luke carefully nudged the burning leaves beneath the dry sticks. Slowly, steadily, the fire began to grow, its warm orange glow pushing back the darkness surrounding his tiny camp.

For the first time since waking up in this strange world, Luke sat beside the crackling fire and quietly watched the darkness beyond its light, hoping that whatever lurked deeper in the forest would choose to stay far away tonight.

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